Kingsize, Not Queen: Some Men Have Taken to Wearing
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From the Wall Street Journal, February 19, 2002, page 1 Men’s sense of freedom to wear But Waistsock doesn’t seem Kingsize, Not Queen: pantyhose is growing at the same time sufficiently macho to Rob Safko. A Some Men Have that women feel freer not to wear them. construction contractor in Ontario, It is much less common these days for Mr. Safko has such severe varicose Taken To Wearing companies to prohibit bare legs. A big veins that a doctor ordered medical problem for the hosiery industry is that support hose. He wears them as Pantyhose many young women now eschew prescribed during long-pants season * * * pantyhose even when wearing skirts. — but not under shorts in the Mainstay for Cross-Dressers Is Boon The industry sells $1.4 billion a year summer. "I can’t see the guys being to Athletes and Guys On Their Feet All in pantyhose in the U.S. alone. But unit too understanding about that," he Day Long volume has been declining. At Sara Lee says. _______ Corp., the largest player through its Mr. Safko has given considerable L’eggs and Hanes brands, unit volume of thought to how the pantyhose By KEVIN HELLIKER sheer hosiery fell 8% in 2001, "reflecting industry might market a product for Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL the continuing decline in the global sheer guys, and not only because he uses hosiery market," the company said. them himself. His wife, Nicole, Robert Rodgers used to carry into The prospect of a whole new customer founded Shapings.com, and he stores a list of items such as milk, eggs base would be enticing — if not for the moonlights as her assistant. In selling and pantyhose, hoping others would decades-long promotion of pantyhose to women’s brands online to other men, think he was shopping for a wife or women, based on sex appeal. That old he has learned that many wear girlfriend. But he is no longer hiding the slogan, "Gentlemen Prefer Hanes," hosiery during athletic endeavors, truth. "The pantyhose are for me," says didn’t mean they liked it on their own such as cold-weather cycling. Thus, Mr. Rodgers, a 34-year-old San legs. The idea of pantyhose on men was Mr. Safko asserts, the industry should Francisco financial manager for an so unthinkable that quarterback Joe devise a name that suggests strength entertainment union. Namath got a big laugh by donning them and endurance. He would choose It’s not news that some men like to for a television commercial in 1973 for "Men’s Power Skin," he says. wear women’s clothing. But a different Hanes’s Beauty Mist brand. Legwear purveyors contend that sort of man is discovering the virtues of If the industry suddenly tried men wearing pantyhose belong to a ladies’ hosiery. No cross-dresser, he marketing to both sexes, would it tradition dating back to European wears hose for warmth, comfort or the alienate women in greater numbers than aristocracy. "There are portraits 200 compression they provide as a possible it attracted men? Sara Lee has no plans years ago of royalty who wore antidote to circulatory problems or to market to men. At Kayser-Roth’s No exactly this garment," Mr. Katz says varicose veins. How his pantyhose look nonsense, Vice President of of his Comfilon male pantyhose. — or what other people think of them Development Diane Warren notes that But since most people don’t regard — becomes moot once he puts on his the potential problems extend beyond male pantyhose wearers as slacks. "I don’t broadcast what I wear marketing. "It would be difficult to get a conventional, let alone traditional, under my pants," says Steve Newman, retailer like Wal-Mart to devote shelf many men hush it up. Larry Sobczak, an Ohio engineering-firm manager who space to a pantyhose for men," she says. a Michigan journalist and avid wears L’eggs Sheer Energy Active Still, it isn’t a big jump to pantyhose cyclist, secretly has worn pantyhose Support under them, among other from nylon running tights, or cycling for a decade, without mentioning it brands. pants of the sort that are increasingly even to his brothers. The stigma Determining the amount of hosiery popular among men eager to look like bothers him. "I once had a girlfriend hiding beneath male trousers is Lance Armstrong. Also bridging the gap steal a pair of my boxers," he says. impossible because store cashiers don’t are support hose prescribed to men with "Why is that OK — women wearing usually record the buyer’s sex. But phlebitis or a history of blood clots. men’s boxers — but it’s a big statistics online, where a man can buy Although over-the-counter pantyhose problem if I steal a pair of her hose without raising eyebrows, point to don’t provide sufficient compression to pantyhose?" an authentic niche. At Shapings.com, a combat serious vein or circulatory Many guys say their wives or lingerie Web site offering European problems, support hose can help minor girlfriends have no problem with it. "I brands, about 85% of women’s-hosiery cases, doctors say. had a girlfriend who liked to help me sales go to males, many of whom place But whether the incentive for pulling pick them out," says Mr. Rodgers. two orders — large sizes for themselves on that first pair is athletic performance A few men wear pantyhose and smaller ones for their wives. A or improved circulation, many men keep publicly. "I’m 57 and don’t care what "small" percentage of sales of the No wearing women’s hosiery because it anybody thinks," says Ron Torgeson, Nonsense brand go to men. Based on feels good. Mr. Rodgers, a former a buyer for an Indiana mechanical communications with these customers, college athlete, substituted his contractor. parent Kayser-Roth Corp. estimates that girlfriend’s pantyhose for his running A pantyhose user for medical 40% are cross-dressers, and most of the tights one day as an experiment. A reasons, Mr. Torgeson wore them rest are men who simply like or need to decade later, "I wear them every day under his shorts last summer on a wear pantyhose. under my clothes to work," he says, fishing trip with a buddy. "When he A generations-old wholesaler of praising not just their comfort but came down to the boat, my friend women’s hosiery called G. Lieberman & efficiency. "It combines underwear, noticed my hose and asked, ‘Do those Sons has restructured itself into a socks and thermals all in one." help?’ And I said, ‘They do.’ Then he manufacturer and online purveyor of For the industry, a key to marketing to started asking me about hosiery. He pantyhose made exclusively for men, such men might be the naming of the seemed quite interested in it." called Comfilon. "There’s a whole product. So many men were buying underground culture of normal, women’s brands at Wolford AG, the mainstream guys who wear hose," says luxury hosiery company based in Chief Executive Steve Katz. Most buy Austria, that four years ago it started women’s brands. Mr. Katz says he sells offering male products. Its tights for men hundreds of thousands of dollars a year — a $90 cotton velvet offering — aren’t worth of three-year-old Comfilon, which called tights. They’re called the has male-specific features such as a fly Waistsock. Amid last year’s recession, in front. The company’s motto: Wolford America posted double-digit "Comfilons are not your mother’s sales growth in that category. "There’s pantyhose." nothing feminine about our men’s Men working outdoors sometimes products," says Karen Schneider, find that nylon, unlike thermal Wolford’s chief executive officer. underwear, provides warmth without bulk and without absorbing perspiration. For that reason, professional football players occasionally wear pantyhose during cold games. Men whose jobs require long hours of standing say that pantyhose can reduce leg pain, swelling and fatigue. Increasingly, doctors recommend that long-distance fliers wear tight-fitting hosiery or socks, to prevent getting blood clots in their legs. .